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Alaska, whale watching excursion worth it?


gettingthereisthefun
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Just booked the Alaskan cruise we've been talking about for years! I always thought I would have to book the whale watching excursion to make sure I saw some whales, but I've heard it's not necessary as you'll see them anyway. What has been your experience? We cruise early July. TIA

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Just booked the Alaskan cruise we've been talking about for years! I always thought I would have to book the whale watching excursion to make sure I saw some whales, but I've heard it's not necessary as you'll see them anyway. What has been your experience? We cruise early July. TIA

 

You may get a better response to this on the Alaska Board:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

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Saw quite a few on the way north to Juneau last week directly from our Explorer balcony. Maybe not quite as close as you might get on an excursion, but certainly got the experience.

 

Biker, who heard an "OOhh" from the crowds up on the pool deck during one of the closer encounters.

Edited by Biker19
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Just booked the Alaskan cruise we've been talking about for years! I always thought I would have to book the whale watching excursion to make sure I saw some whales, but I've heard it's not necessary as you'll see them anyway. What has been your experience? We cruise early July. TIA

We did two whale watching excursions on our Alaksa cruise and enjoyed them both. You get much closer to the whales on the excursion, and the narration is interesting and informative.

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I've just got back I did 2 whale watching excursions,one in Juneau and one in ice straight point they were both great .On the tours you get information about whales they help point out what to look for and get a closer look. At ice straight point I did see a few feeding around the ship .

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If you want to SEE whales up close & personal I recommend an excursion in Icy Strait Point with a private vendor in a smaller boat. They can get to where the whales are very quickly.

 

I am not exaggerating when I saw we saw 30-40 whales, one breached and some feeding. Saw many, many tails some two & 3 at a time.

 

One whale actually swam under our boat. We had 16 on board a boat for 18 compared to the cruise excursions 150+ on their boat.

 

We did see a view from the ship but they were far off and you couldn't really make out anything.

 

We are going back next June and that is one excursions I will definitely repeat. It is well worth the expense!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Definitely worth it. While you will likely see some from the ship, getting close and hearing the commentary was so much better. I really enjoyed being right by a big cluster of seals (sea lions?) relaxing on a buoy. Could almost reach out and touch them.

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Whale watching excursion is a must do in Alaska. Typically the ones you see from the ship are quite far away and you really need to be alert to see them. As others have said take a private excursion instead of a ship's excursion (aka sardines in a can). Many of the private operators stay in touch so they know where the whales are and also so that not too many of them converge on a whale/ group of whales at the same time. See Alaska board for recommendations.

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Whale watching excursions are most available in Icy Strait Point and in Juneau. One thing to keep in mind: law prevents any boat from getting closer than 100 yards to a humpback. Of course, if they stop and the whale gets closer, that is fine. But all excursions no matter the size of the boat have to follow that law. Bring binoculars and a long lens for your camera.

 

I took one in ISP last year. And a Major Marine tour this year in Seward. Both were good. All the whale watching boats are in constant communication to tell where sightings are. So it's doubtful one tour provider or another will have a radically different experience of how many whales you see, just the type of ship/number of passengers/other extras.

 

That said, it's always a gamble. While I was happy seeing humpbacks partially breach on the excursion, this year when the Radiance was sitting in ISP, there were three pods of humpbacks bubble net feeding right alongside the cruise ship. I spent a couple hours watching them breach as a group. It was far more amazing than anything I'd ever be able to see on an excursion, because they were literally below my balcony. We were all outside, listening to the seabirds get agitated, then the low groan of the whales right before they breached. Otherworldly. So all that's to say, go into any whale watching excursion knowing it's luck and chance, and that the operators are all working for everyone to have the best experience they can.

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You can "see" whales from the ship, but recall the ship often travels at ~20mph. Whales stay down 3-5 minutes between "breaths". Math says that you often just get a glimpse before you're too far away to really get much out of the encounter (you've traveled a mile and a half while the whale has probably moved a hundred yards). Typically whales seen from the ship are not particularly satisfying, but do allow one to "check the box". I've seen Sperm, Pilot, Cuvier's Beaked, Humpback, etc. but none of the views were as "good" as on a dedicated boat.

 

Tours will take you right up to the whales and stay with them as they move around (yes, within strict Federal limits (yes, which are often "bent", there's a handy loophole))

 

I usually take a birding spotting scope (telescope) along with me, which allows for much better viewing, but even then, the ship doesn't stop or angle toward the whales when spotted, whereas the whale watching tours do.

 

And while all the whale watch companies sport fantastic pictures of breaching whales, recall that whales typically don't do much. Expect blows and tail flips ("fluking"), be quite happy if you see feeding activity, feel blessed if you see a breach (took me 20+ whale watching trips to get a humpback breach, and even then I saw that from the beach!)

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Just booked the Alaskan cruise we've been talking about for years! I always thought I would have to book the whale watching excursion to make sure I saw some whales, but I've heard it's not necessary as you'll see them anyway. What has been your experience? We cruise early July. TIA

 

I never saw one from the ship, and it was not for want of trying, but saw this on my WW tour so I would say it was definitely worth it. All the best, Tony

 

KV1XSxkNCl4

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We took a private excursion with Harv & Marv's Outback Alaska from Juneau. Small boat with 2 other couples. We saw amazing bubble net feeding several times. Would definitely recommend an excursion. Seeing whales from the ship can be hit or miss. What are the odds that if there is an announcement of whales off port you are on starboard & by the time you get to port the whales are long gone. :rolleyes:

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Just booked the Alaskan cruise we've been talking about for years! I always thought I would have to book the whale watching excursion to make sure I saw some whales, but I've heard it's not necessary as you'll see them anyway. What has been your experience? We cruise early July. TIA

For the right price, you can buy to see anything you want. Whales, bears, Misty Fjords, Tracy Arm, glaciers, waterfalls, train ride, lumberjacks, etc You will even be able to capture that Kodak moment to prove that you did it. And the more who want to see, the more you have to pay. Whale watching is fine for one port but what about the others? After all it is only money and who knows when the next time you will be able to cruise Alaska again.

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Agree with small group whale watching; we did Harv and Marv just last week (w/Capt. Liz) and enjoyed every moment. We didn't see 30-40 as mentioned above, but probably a dozen or more, including 6 or so "tails." No breeching though, was looking forward to this. All in all worth the money. There were 4 of us on a small boat (capacity 6), seas were choppy w/ 2-3' waves and quite bumpy at times, but we didn't care. Had a blast!

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We were in Icy Strait Point last week and went with a small vendor (16 people) and it was wonderful. Followed a group of 4 whales that were bubble feeding, breaching (we were a little far when they did this), and they swam all around us. If your cruise goes here, I would recommend this for sure.

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You may see whales from the ship. You will see them on an excursion. We saw several whales off our ship- mostly it was a dark moving thing way over there although one did keep up with the ship and kept flapping it's flipper. Yes you may get the bubble feeding pods but that is very very unusual. I am about to embark on my third cruise to Alaska and I cannot imagine not going whale watching.

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Just returned from the 6/11-6/18 sailing of Oosterdam (Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan).

 

From the ship had the following cetaceans:

 

Humpback Whale - 103 (seen each day other than sailaway from Seattle. 40+ at the seaward entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca on 6/17)

 

Orca - pod of 5 at south end of Chatham Strait

 

Sei Whale - 3 lunge feeding within 100 yards of the ship while sailing west of the Queen Charlotte Islands on 6/12

 

Fin Whale - 1 west of Queen Charlotte Islands

 

Harbor Porpoise - daily

 

Pacific White-sided Dolphin - only seen one day, 6/16 in Hecate Strait

 

Not whales, but still cool:

Sea Otter - perhaps a dozen to twenty while sailing out of Sitka

 

Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses - west of Vancouver Island

 

Mola mola (Ocean Sunfish) - Strait of Juan de Fuca

 

Harbor Seal - moms with pups on ice floes at Hubbard Glacier (20-25 total)

 

Steller Sea Lion - daily

 

So, yes, you can see whales from the ship. But many of them are distant and you travel past wherever they happen to be fairly quickly. For great looks, take a whale watching shore excursion, especially from Juneau.

 

We did and added the following to the totals above:

 

Humpback Whale - 5

Orca - pod of 6 with one adult male

Harbor Porpoise - 2

 

To be fair, I spent more time looking than the typical cruiser would, and therefore likely saw some things that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Optics used included Vortex Razor 8x42 binoculars and a Kowa 82mm spotting scope with 20-60x zoom. Average observation time per day was about 2-3 hours. Observations from our balcony (6th deck, port side) or the Crow's Nest (enclosed lounge with windows offering views over the bow)

 

Happy cruising (and whaling!)

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